The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-09-22
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

In two of the leading Paris hospitals
the death-rate from all sorts of amputa-
tions has decreased from fifty per cent.
in 1880 to an average of about fifteen
per cent. r
DO kingbirds swallow worker-bees,
or do they simply crush them in their
bills. extract the nectar, and then cast
the robbed victim away?-Gleaaiags tn
Bee Culture.
"A Belgian naval surgeon who has
made a study of the comparative effects
of hot climates on the constitution OF
Europeans, pronounces the Congo re-
gion more healthy than Brazil or the
English and Dutch Indies.
1t is asserted that many thousand
tons of peanuts are imported into the
ports Of France annually for the manu-
facture of oil, and the residue after the
oil is expressed, is used for adulterating
cocoa in the preparation for chocolate
confections. E1 s
Prof. Tiersch, of Leipsic, has now
shown that if a piece of negro's skin is
grated on white man. the piece of
transplanted skin gradually! changes,
it's color till it is white,s aud conversely.
if piece of white skin is grated on
negro.
From letter in Nature it appears
that Professor S. P. Langley, the we'll
known American astronomer, thinks
that the sun, if seen from outside the
earth's atmosphere, would be of a
blush color, or, as he describes it, a
lavender with perhaps a suggestion of
purple.
Prof. Neumayer, of Hamburg, urges
the necessity of Antarctic exploration.
laying special stress on its Importance
for geology and paleontology. He an
ticipates that it will show that the South
Pole was a center of dispersion of ami
mails and,plants for the Southern Hemis-
phere, as the North Pole is believed to
have been for the Northern Hemisphere.
Public Opinion.
Chemical decomposition has been
produced by pressure in the expert
ments of two Belgian chemists. Under
pressure of 5000 atmospheres. at a
temperature of 104 Q, a pulverized ace
tate of copper and lime was slowly liq-
uefied, and ON removal of the pressure
the surface of the instrument in con-
tact with the salt was found coated
| with opper.-Boston Budget.
According to report from the In
ternal Revenue Office, there are in the
United States 81 oleomargarine factor
les, and 266 wholesale and 1857 retail
dealers iu that product who paid special
taxes in November, December, January
and February last. During the same
months, 1865, TAO pounds of oleomar-
garine were manufactured, and 152, 797
pounds were exported.
Max Won Pettenkoffer, a noted Ger
man physician, does not believe that
cholera is contagious, in the sense of
being communicated directly from per-
son to person. He thinks it belongs to
the malarial group of epidemics, the
germs of which find their way from the
soil into the air, and thence through
the lungs into the system. In his opin-
ion. good drainage and a pure water
supply are the most efficient safe
guards against the outbreak of cholera.
IN. Y Ledger.
M Grand 'Eury has propounded q
theory that coal was originally liquid
generated by the decomposition Of in
ferior vegetation in an atmosphere
highly charged with carbonic acid. The
carbon of the jelly-like mass thus
formed, after passing through various
transformations into asphalt, petrole.
um, bitumen, ETC., finally assumed the
form of coal. The author cites various
facts connected with the occurrence OF
coal which. he thinks, are better ex
planned on his theory than by the usua
one.-Bostons Transcript. J Ea